Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel have two separate college degrees but only get paid one salary

Conjoined twins who shot to fame on reality TV decades ago revealed they only get paid one salary at their teaching job despite having two degrees. 

Abby and Brittany Hensel, 34, from Minnesota, US, were born with dicephalic parapagus, where two heads are attached to a single body, with each twin having her own brain, heart, stomach and lungs. 

Their two brains and nervous systems are perfectly coordinated. They can write, eat, run, and drive a car, acting both independently and in perfect sync.

Despite having just one body, the dicephalus conjoined twins insist that they have two souls, saying that each of them are their own individual person.

The pair, who work as fifth grade teachers, revealed they divide up their responsibilities at work but only receive one single wage which they share between them.

Although the sisters have two teaching licenses and were considered as individuals within the school system with two separate degrees, this isn't reflected in their finances.  

Abby previously told the BBC: 'Obviously right away we understand that we are going to get one salary because we're doing the job of one person.

'As maybe experience comes in we'd like to negotiate a little bit, considering we have two degrees and because we are able to give two different perspectives or teach in two different ways.'

Brittany added: 'One can be teaching and one can be monitoring and answering questions. So in that sense we can do more than one person.'

The sisters both graduated from Bethel University with majors in education in 2012. 

The twins first captured national attention when they appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996 when they were six.

The Hensel twins are the rarest conjoined twins, resulting from a single fertilized egg failing to fully separate in the womb.

Just one set of twins in every 40,000 is born connected in some way to each other, and only one per cent of those survive beyond the first year.

They could play basketball and softball in school and got driver's licenses when they were 16. Abby controls the pedals while Brittany controls the blinkers, and they both steer.

However they both had to sit written and practical driving exams separately, as although they have to be coordinated, state law in Minnesota requires them both to each have a license. 

Thanks to the shared spinal cord, their nervous systems can communicate, allowing their distinct brains to exchange information and coordinate the body’s movements.

When the Hensel twins were born on March 7, 1990, in Minnesota, doctors warned their parents Patty and Mike that they were unlikely to survive the night. But that prediction was to prove wildly wrong.

Their parents Patty and Mike never once considered having the twins separated, because of the risk both might die or be left with such severe disabilities their quality of life would be compromised.

Separation surgery success for conjoined twins depends on where the twins are joined.

According to previous reports, only once have the Hensel twins talked about separation - in childhood - when Abigail became bored and restless after Brittany fell ill with pneumonia and was confined to bed.

She started to suggest being separated from her sister, but when Brittany began to cry Abigail reassured her that everything was fine and that they'd never be parted.

From the waist down, all organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.

In infancy, a third undeveloped arm was removed from the twins' chest and aged 12 they underwent surgery to correct scoliosis - curvature of the spine - and expand their chest cavity to prevent future breathing difficulties.

Abby and Brittany face a common stigma that they are one person instead of two.

When growing up, they, like many twins, had very different personalities and tastes. Abigail, the feisty, stubborn one, liked orange juice for breakfast, while Brittany, the joker of the family, would only touch milk.

Abby Hensel, who rose to fame alongside her sister on their eponymous TLC show that chronicled their major life events, including high school graduation and job hunting, quietly tied the knot with an army veteran in 2021. 

It has led many to speculate how the sisters carry out day-to-day activities, including intimate ones.

Abby secretly married nurse and Army veteran Josh Bowling in 2021, according to public records obtained by Today, which made her stepmother to Josh's daughter, Isabella.

Last year the conjoined twins have sparked pregnancy rumours after sharing an unusual video on social media - a happening that the pair's mother previously predicted in a documentary.

Before the pair became seriously romantically involved with anyone, their mother revealed that they were keen to have children of their own one day.

Patty explained in a documentary: '[It] is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them.'

'Yeah, we're going to be moms,' Brittany agreed.

In another interview, Brittany reiterated their desire to have families of their own, saying: 'The whole world doesn't need to know who we are seeing, what we are doing and when we are going to do it.

'But believe me, we are totally different people.'

In a 2001 interview with Time, the twins' father Mike said his daughters had already then asked about finding husbands one day.

Knowing that other conjoined twins have married, he explained, why not? 'They're good-looking girls. They're witty. They've got everything going for them, except they're together,' he added.

He was right, and Abby's relationship with Josh, who is a father-of-one, became public in March this year, when they announced their wedding.

On TikTok account @abbyandbrittanyhensel, a clip revealed insight into Abby's wedding day - and a Facebook account titled Britt And Abby also featured a picture of the happy couple.

For the ceremony, the twins sported a sleeveless wedding dress with lace trim detailing while the groom wore a grey suit.

A video thought to have been captured by one of their guests and shared on social media showed the twins and the groom enjoying a dance during the big day.

Another showed Josh's daughter sporting a floral bridesmaid's dress and walking down the aisle, holding a sign that read: 'Daddy... Here Comes Your Bride'.

It's likely the father-of-one, who works with hospice patients, and the twins live with one another, with Josh's Facebook page showing the family - including his young daughter - enjoying hikes in nature, ice cream and dressing up for Halloween.

Josh served as an Army medic with the 1st Cavalry in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

He told the publication in 2021: 'I dealt with a lot of death and dying - the bad version of it'.

The father-of-one added that becoming a nurse 'felt like a calling' because he wanted to give people a peaceful death, as opposed to those he witnessed at war.

While Abby and Joshua made their relationship public, Brittany has kept her romantic life out of the spotlight.

However, Abby and Josh have now sparked pregnancy rumours after posting a clip on their TikTok account, which has over 303,000 followers.

The video, which has garnered over 36,000 views, shared a series of 'breaking news' headlines.

Each headline read something different, with the most notable being, 'This is so tragic' and 'What if one of them dies?'

The final headline revealed: 'Married and baby on the way.'

The 30-second clip, which was shared without a caption, left fans questioning if the twins were pregnant.

Even as teenagers they spoke about wanting to have children.

'People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons,' the twins said in the first episode of their eight-part series, according to ABC News.